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Yellow Submarine - Anonymous

In the late summer of 1983, I relocated from my floating home in Puerto Rico to New York City, to begin my career with CDC as a Sexually Transmitted Disease Investigator in the South Bronx. I was teaching SCUBA off the coast of Humacao on a 60’ sloop charter, a proper sailing vessel, when I was allured to a want-ad calling for bilinguals (with excellent people skills) to begin a career with the federal government in disease prevention and control…

My salary was about $15,000 then…barely enough to feed me after paying my rent—in a rent-controlled apartment! Fortunately, I learned how to play basic guitar in college and took to street performing as a way to earn some extra cash, which usually went to feeding myself at a neighborhood Chinese restaurant.

One of the easiest and most popular songs to play was Yellow Submarine, which I sang to the masses of humanity exiting the “A” train at 181st Street and Broadway.

Little did I realize that I would become a featured guest twenty-one years later, and asked to perform the same song to my nephew at his first birthday party--[July 24, 2004]. This time, I will perform for free – and the honor of a baby’s smile.

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